“Great fun. Instructor is delightful, informative, enthusiastic. If this is a gym for the brain-who thought it could be so fun?”
- Anonymous evaluation from student

Exercise Your Brain: New Brain Research and Implications DVD: $19.99

All sales final. Approximate running time 80 minutes. Color / Not Rated / NTSC / Zone 0.

This one-hour and 20 minute class introduces you to the science of brain fitness and includes many engaging brain exercises you can do on your own or in a group setting.

You will learn about basic neuroanatomy and physiology, as well as hear about the groundbreaking publications that launched this field. Then, get you will practice how to exercise your own brain and flex all your mental muscles.

Exercise Your Brain: New Brain Research and Implications has been taught at several different Bay Area locations through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), a network of over 100 centers affiliated with universities, that offer classes to people over 50. This class is also being offered as one of the global activities for the Dana Foundation’s Brain Awareness Week 2007.

“Interactive information, entertaining, amusing, educational, lots of material covered in short time. Good fun! Mr. Fernandez is in his element. Great teacher, witty, his love of his craft is evident.”
- Anonymous evaluation from student

Here is a short preview of the class (please give it a few seconds to load):

“Incredible combination of knowledge and enthusiasm in the instructor. Both challenging and fun for students.”
- Anonymous evaluation from student

Your teacher, Alvaro Fernandez MA/MBA, leads the class through an in-depth discussion of each of the seven main mental muscles and different exercises to work out each one.

Course Topics

• What is Brain Fitness
• Warming Up Your Brain
• Science and Trends
• Training the Seven Main Mental Muscles
1. Motor Coordination: Learn to better understand your ability to consciously control your voluntary movements
2. Emotions: Practice recognizing, interpreting, and feeling emotions in yourself and others
3. Memory: Learn about what memories really are and practice several mnemonic strategies
4. Sensory: Train yourself to pay attention to your senses and take in that information
5. Language: Practice translating abstract thought into expressive communication
6. Visual: Test your abilities to rotate objects in space as well as practice mental visualization for relaxation
7. Executive: Your executive functions are the “umbrella” skills that affect everything you do, such as: planning, attention, abstract thinking, time perception, motivation, initiating appropriate actions and inhibiting inappropriate actions, and selecting relevant sensory information.

The class will leave you with an understanding of what brain fitness is and what you can do to be more fit now and later. Not just “Use It or Lose It” but “Use It and Improve It”!